The Only Checklist You Need to Start Your Own Business

If you do a quick Google search for How To Start Your Own Business, up pops articles and articles that try to tackle just the right steps to starting your own business.

A further read through them and you will find some combination of checklists, business plans, and a whole myriad of other items that leaves just about anyone feeling like they can open their own business and run off into successes of the millionaire mindset so long as you put together a small business plan and do a little local advertising.

And you can. However. No offense to these other writers, but nothing in life is black and white and nothing is as easy checking off boxes on the way to success.

Where are the stories of tenacity and perseverance? Where are the boxes that tell you how you’ll be spending an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer alone at the beginning? One of my favorite authors Jen Sincero covers this in her book You are A Badass at Making Money, but Forbes tends to miss this point.

Starting a business and growing it is not for the faint of heart. If you’re reading this and you’ve already done it, I applaud you on being fucking awesome!

That said, thanks to the wonderful invention of the internet, it’s easier than ever to start your own business and if you’re willing to outhustle and outwork everyone else then do your thang and start your own business.

Thanks to Google, your life is a lot easier than our predecessors who didn’t have the access to a quick search to answer just about any question you have on the technical side of things. Which is also why I think all of these lists got just how to start your own business wrong.

What does it take? I’m still figuring this one out. It’s a hell of a lot more than a checklist from Forbes. It’s been the best decision I’ve ever made.

At the risk of being blunt, here are my quick 5 Things You Must Do To Start Your Own Business

1. Get a Thicker Skin. That’s it. If you’re not willing to stop being offended at every turned down offer, every lost customer or every ghosted proposal, this is probably not the business for you.

My advice, don’t take things personally and just keep pushing yourself forward to create your dream life and business one slow step over every rejection.

2. Roll Up Your Sleeves. To own your own business, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work. From learning how to build your own website to starting social media from zero to fighting with a broken printer to get your proposal finished on time, life happens, and you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the dirty work.

Even if that means crying in front of your printer before giving up and walking to office depot to get something printed at an outrageous cost to have it done on time. This happened to me, maybe next time I won’t be as frazzled and cry, but I needed to experience this to no it really didn’t matter in the long run.

It’s not the mountain ahead of you, to climb that wears you out, but the pebble in your shoe.

3. Hustle. In the back of my head, I always think, “I will not be outworked.” I am here to hustle, I am here to be my own boss and that means working as hard as I possibly can to grow my business and yours. I will not be outworked. I will hustle my ass off every day.

You should get comfortable with that. If you’re not, there are plenty of 9-5s out there where you can clock out and head to the pool after work. That’s a completely fair choice too.

4. You should be so dedicated to perseverance that you’d literally tattoo it on your arm. It’s hard work to start a business. It’s hard to overcome your first rejection. You have to be comfortable being really uncomfortable. Perseverance will be the only thing keeping you moving forward. Be stronger than you were yesterday and keep going.

5. Allow Yourself to Have Fun. I said this earlier in this post and I’ll say it again, “It’s not the mountain ahead of you that wears you out but the pebble in your shoe.”

As a business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in making more money, finding more customers, securing your next client. But the reality you made the choice to own your own business for a reason and every once in a while it’s fair to remind yourself that you chose this path.

You are literally living your dream. Smile as you read this. Feel good about trying. And let yourself embrace the magic of what you’re doing. It will keep you going as you clear those pebbles out one-by-one.

My friends, I am glad you are here on this journey with me. I am glad you have enough tenacity and drive to do something new. Keep trekking along and we’ll climb this mountain together.